1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device and a method for controlling a motion of a vehicle such as an automobile, and more specifically, to such a device that controls driving and braking forces applied to wheels of a vehicle to stabilize the behavior of the vehicle during turn driving.
2. Description of Prior Art
In a modern automobile, a motion of a vehicle, such as a turning behavior of the vehicle body, is stabilized by an electronic controlling system monitoring vehicle running conditions such as a vehicle velocity, longitudinal and lateral accelerations, a yaw rate and a steering angle. When an undesirable condition such as a spin and a drift-out occurs, the controlling system cooperates with driving and braking systems to generate an appropriate driving or braking force on a particular wheel, which induces a yaw moment on the vehicle body (around its centroid) against the spin or drift-out condition, thereby maintaining an appropriate yaw rate of the vehicle body. For example, one of such devices for stabilizing the behavior of a vehicle body is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 11-91526, filed by Assignee of the present application, in which the behavior of a running vehicle is estimated through an index value (Drift-out Value) based upon a deviation between actual and target yaw rates of the vehicle body. When the behavior stability is deteriorated, the device applies braking forces to wheels individually, depending upon the degree of the deterioration, and generates a yaw moment for recovering the behavior stability or decelerates the vehicle, avoiding the risk that the vehicle is off its course.
In conventional vehicle motion control devices as shown in said publication, the condition of each wheel is less considered: the condition of each wheel is controlled by other devices, such as ABS control system, etc. Further, the controlling process for suppressing an undesirable motion is a negative feedback control, starting in response to the deterioration of the behavior, in which the actual index value is gradually varied toward a target index value. Thus, the suppression effect could be late or insufficient for an extensive deterioration. Further, such a vehicle motion control device would not start a behavior controlling process unless an index value indicating the stability/instability of a vehicle behavior largely deviates from its target value even if an undesirable condition such as wheel lock, wheel spin occurs at one of the wheels. Such deteriorated conditions at any of wheels would easily lead to the behavior instability. Thus, it is desirable that those are avoided in conjunction with a vehicle motion control process in order to obtain and maintain the behavior stability more effectively.
In principle, a motion of a turning vehicle is determined by frictional forces between wheels and road surfaces. Thus, together with anti-wheel-lock and anti-wheel-spin processes, the vehicle motion behavior would be estimated and controlled based upon the condition of each wheel.
Based upon such a concept as described above, the present invention provides novel and unique vehicle motion control devices and methods systematically treating the respective conditions of wheels to acquire and maintain the vehicle behavior stability together with anti wheel lock and wheel spin processing, braking forces distribution, etc.
According to the present invention, a device for controlling a running behavior of a vehicle comprises means for estimating a road reaction force generated on each of the wheels, means for calculating a yaw moment around a centroid of the vehicle body generated by the road reaction force on each of the wheels, and means for controlling driving and braking forces on each of the wheel based upon the yaw moments so as to stabilize the running of the vehicle. In this device, the running of the vehicle is efficiently and surely stabilized based upon a yaw moment actually generated by a road reaction force on each wheel by monitoring the road reaction forces on each of the wheels, instead of depending upon an index value based upon only a total vehicle running condition as in a conventional motion controlling device.
In order to obtain the stability of the vehicle running, the means for controlling the driving and braking forces on each of the wheels may include a calculation means which calculates a yaw moment required to be added to the vehicle body, and the driving and braking force on each wheels may be controlled so as to generate the required yaw moment. The required yaw moment may be calculated based upon the yaw moment presently generated by the road reaction force on each of the wheels and a yaw moment which can be generated through the control of the driving and braking forces on each of the wheels. In calculation of the required yaw moment and target forces on the wheels, a theoretical tire model may be employed.
The driving and braking force controlling means may be adapted to judge whether the behavior of the turning vehicle is stable or unstable based upon the yaw moment actually generated by the road reaction force on each wheel. More specifically, Critical yaw moment is defined as a yaw moment which can be generated on a wheel when a road reaction force is maximized by varying the slip angle of the wheel while its longitudinal force component is kept constant, and the judgement of the behavior may be done by using the sum of the presently generated yaw moments by the front wheels of the vehicle and the critical yaw moments by the rear wheels of the vehicle. The critical yaw moment reflects the critical limit of a road reaction force on a wheel.
If the sum of the yaw moments is out of a predetermined range, the vehicle may be judged under a spin or a drift condition. The spin condition may be defined as a condition where the magnitude of the sum of the yaw moments by the front wheels is larger than that of the critical yaw moments by the rear wheels. The drift condition may be defined as a condition where the magnitude of the sum of the yaw moments by the front wheels is smaller than that of the critical yaw moments of the rear wheels while, in the front wheels, the yaw moments are close to the critical yaw moments. In the above judgement, for practical purposes, a reference value and a phase advance, represented by xe2x88x92KIxcex2dr, may be employed.
The driving and braking force controlling means may be also adapted to control the driving and braking forces on each of the wheels so as to produce a spin avoiding yaw moment and a drift avoiding yaw moment as the yaw moment required to be added to the vehicle body so as to stabilize the vehicle running. These yaw moments required to be added to the vehicle body may be calculated from the presently generated yaw moments and critical yaw moments with a control reference value, denoted by xe2x88x92xcex94Ms, xcex94Ms, xe2x88x92xcex94Md and xcex94Md, for practical purposes. The required yaw moment may be borne by one or more of the wheels which will effectively generate a yaw moment suppressing the spinning or drifting of the vehicle. For practical purpose, each required yaw moment borne by each wheel may be converted to a target longitudinal force.
Further, the driving and braking force controlling means may be also adapted to define normal running limits for a longitudinal force on each of the wheel and to limit a longitudinal force applied to each wheel in between the limits, thereby avoiding a slip of any of the wheel, such as wheel-spin and wheel-lock phenomena. The normal running limits may be set out individually for each of the wheels.
The driving and braking force controlling means may be provided with means to calculate a slip angle of each of the wheels; means to calculate a vertical load on each of the wheels; and means to calculate a maximum static frictional coefficient between each wheel and the road surface abutting thereon. From these parameters, it is possible to take the critical limit of the road reaction force on each of the wheels into account in the control of the longitudinal force on each wheels so that the device may effectively and surely control the driving and braking forces on each wheel so as to stabilize the vehicle running together with wheel-spin and wheel lock avoiding processes.
The means for estimating a road reaction force generated on each of the wheels may estimate a longitudinal force and a lateral force on each of the wheels individually, and accordingly the detailed condition of the road reaction force including the direction of the force may be taken into account. Thus, it is possible to control the driving and braking forces on each wheel more appropriately.
The present invention also provides a method for controlling a running behavior of a vehicle comprising steps of: estimating a road reaction force generated on each of the wheels; calculating a yaw moment around a centroid of the vehicle body generated by the road reaction force on each of the wheels; and controlling driving and braking forces on each of the wheel based upon said yaw moments so as to stabilize a running of the vehicle. The modifications and improvements of this method may be done as described above with respect to the device according to the present invention.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide new and novel devices and methods for controlling a running behavior of a vehicle based upon a yaw moment generated by a road reaction force on each of the wheels.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such devices and methods allowing for the critical limit of a road reaction force on each of wheels so as to efficiently and surely stabilize the vehicle running.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such devices and methods controlling the driving and braking force on each wheel so as to stabilize the vehicle running while avoiding wheel-spin and wheel-lock phenomena.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such devices and methods defining normal running limits of a longitudinal force on each of the wheels, thereby avoiding that too large driving or braking force is applied to each of the wheels.
It is a yet further object of the present invention to provide such devices and methods wherein the vehicle running behavior is judged based upon a yaw moment generated by a road reaction force on each of the wheels, thereby efficiently and surely detecting an abnormal running behavior such as a spin condition, drift condition.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such devices and methods wherein a yaw moment required for stabilizing the vehicle running is estimated based upon presently generated yaw moments, thereby making the control of the driving and braking forces on each wheel efficient and accurate.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such devices and methods wherein a yaw moment required for stabilizing the vehicle running is calculated from presently generated yaw moments and critical yaw moments, thereby allowing for the critical limits of the road reaction force on each of the wheels in the calculation of the required yaw moment.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such devices and methods wherein physical parameters of each wheel are estimated, thereby reflecting the individual physical conditions of the wheels in the control of the behavior of a turning vehicle.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be in part apparent and in part pointed out hereinafter.